The President announced that he has recess appointed Kathleen A.
McGinty to chair the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), and that
he has submitted her name to the Senate for confirmation. Ms. McGinty
is currently Director of the White House Office on Environmental
Policy.

The action comes following the September 23, 1994 White House
decision to reorganize the environmental operations within the
Executive Office of the President by merging the Office on
Environmental Policy (OEP) with CEQ in order to give continued strength
to environmental policy-making in the Administration. At that time,
the President announced that he would nominate Ms. McGinty. The
nomination was submitted to the 103rd Congress but the Senate did not
act on the nomination before the end of the session.

The President created the Office on Environmental Policy in January,
1993, to provide environmental policy advice within the White House.
Legislation was proposed during the last session of Congress, to
elevate the Environmental Protection Agency to Cabinet status, and
transferring the National Environmental Policy Act compliance functions
to the "new" EPA.